The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments

Exodus 20, 32, 34

CHCC: February 3, 2013

For the last few weeks we’ve been in a series from the book of Exodus. Today we’ve reached the part where God gives the 10 commandments to His new nation of Israel.

About 20 years ago a Gallup Poll was taken that indicated less than half of the adult population in the United States knew more than five out of the Ten Commandments.

In fact, more people claimed to LIVE by the Ten Commandments than those who actually knew what they were.

Before we talk ABOUT the 10 commandments … it’s a good idea to be sure we all know what they are.

Let’s read together… (Exodus 20:1-17)

"Then God spoke all these words, saying I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.

Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

Honor your father and your mother.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet anything that is your neighbors.

1. The Law of God

God gave these 10 commandments three different times. This first time, God actually SPOKE these words to the whole nation of Israel. They heard his voice as well as the sound of a trumpet … and thunder and lightning and smoke coming from the mountain.

They were terrified. They begged Moses, YOU go and talk to God. Because if that happens again, we’ll all die!

The second time, God WROTE the 10 commandments. Moses went up the mountain alone and met with God.

Then, many days later, Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. Exodus 32:15-16

While Moses was on the mountain, the people of Israel had decided he was gone too long. Even though they had heard the voice of God and seen His power, they still turned away from God.

When Moses came down the mountain, he saw that the people breaking the first 2 commandments. They were dancing and partying around an idol. He threw the tablets down in anger … and they shattered.

So Moses went up the mountain again. This THIRD time God dictated the 10 commandments and Moses chiseled them on stone tablets. These tablets were placed in the Ark of the Covenant and remained there for hundreds of years.

The stone tablets have disappeared, but the 10 Commandments live on … and they form the basis for codes of law all over the world.

According to the Atlanta Journal "The Ten Commandments contain 297 words. The Bill of Rights is stated in 463 words. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address contains 266 words. A recent federal directive to regulate the price of cabbage contains 26,911 words."

Compare that to 1,147,271 words published so far in Obamacare regulation documents.

Makes you wonder what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.

These 10 laws are short and simple enough for anyone, but just in case, here are the 10 Commandments for Texans:

(1) Just one God

(2) Put nothin’ before God

(3) Watch yer mouth

(4) Git yourself to Sunday meetin’

(5) Honor yer Ma & Pa

(6) No killin’

(7) No foolin’ around with another fellow’s gal

(8) Don’t take what ain’t yers

(9) No tellin’ tales or gossipin’

(10) Don’t be hankerin’ for yer buddy’s stuff

How can laws that sound so simple have so much influence on the world?

Listen to what our second president, John Adams, said about the 10 commandments: “These laws, most of which have been enacted by every Nation which ever professed any code of laws, are essential to the existence of men in society. Vain indeed would be the search among the writings of secular history to find so broad, so complete and so solid a basis of morality as the Ten Commandments lay down.”

2. The Law of Love

God gave the 10 Commandments to Moses as a foundation of law for the nation of Israel. When Jesus began his ministry in Israel over a thousand years later, one of the legal experts asked him, “Which is the greatest of the commandments.?”

Jesus didn’t hesitate. He answered, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.